GENERAL STRIKE: April 28 we will stop Brazil!

Against the Pensions and Labor reforms and outsourcing;
For employment and no cut of rights;
Out with Temer and all the corrupt in Congress!

It is time for all to join the building of the unitary General Strike that will take place next April 28. Without a doubt, this calling is a great victory of the Brazilian working class and of our Federation, which has defended for a long time the need and possibility to stop the country against the government’s attacks.

Our insistence in the calling for a unitary building of a General Strike has been based on the understanding there is a strong disposition of struggle and indignation in the working class. All this due to unemployment, the worsening of living conditions, the increase in violence that victimizes the poor and black people in the periphery; against the lama sea of corruption and the continuity of the policy to withdraw rights, which came from the PT administrations and is now intensified with the current Temer administration (PMDB).

The day of General Strike will take place in a scenario where the administration has less than 10% approval and the economic crisis deepens further. At the same time, corruption denunciations advance with over 10 governors and hundreds of representatives mentioned in the Lava Jato investigation and Odebrecht delations. The explosive and shameful case of the “Weak Meet” operation is added to this framework. Unconcerned with this situation, the Temer administration and the National Congress dare to continue attacking the workers with the adoption of outsourcing and the continuation of the processing of the pensions and labor reforms, increasing even more the outrage and will of struggle of the workers and poor people.

At the same time, the Temer administration lost the dispute in defense of the Pensions Reform before the population and there are fissures among his allies in Congress, as he did not manage to set his Pensions Reform to vote.

All of us must face the challenge to carry out this General Strike based on the gained experience of strikes and demonstrations that took place during March. In these activities, our Federation was active and politically involved, showing the success of insisting in the defense of the unity in action in the streets and consequently in the contribution to broaden the mobilization of our class.

The 8th, the International Working Women’s Day, was one of those days this year that extended with immense force all over the world. Consequently, it influenced actions and demonstrations from there. We were also fed by the strikes and labor stoppages that took place on the 15th, the demonstrations and actions of the public employees of the three areas that took place on the 28th, and the demonstrations and public acts that took place last 31st.

Unlike the failure of the last attempt to mobilize by the openly “right-wing” organizations, like March 26 by MBL [Movimiento Brasil Libre; t.n.] to defend the reforms, we recently saw there was broad and strong unity of the workers in our class’s struggle. Since this unity was built with the update of the forms and methods of mobilization of the working class, they strengthened the mobilizations and increased our conviction that the General Strike is possible and its strength may defeat the reforms and may pose a threat to the government. Finally, if these reforms are adopted, it will evidently represent a brutal attack to our rights. We will not accept this! Thus, time has come to take on this task. We know the strength of the General Strike may defeat the reforms and even overthrow the Temer administration. For this to happen, we need to bet on the organization “of the rank and file”.

From now on, besides the assemblies of the organized categories and the unity in action among the Union Federations, it is necessary to promote the examples of willingness, organization and struggle of the poor and black people of the periphery. Just as to seek to involve the factory commissions, neighborhood, workplace and study place groups, and the retired and struggle associations. This way we will help organize “Committees of Struggle Against the Reforms” in each of these places and make them become actual “Rank and file commands of the General Strike”.

Our tasks do not end next 28th, thus we must work hard in the building of a unitary and classist May 1st and an action and activity agenda for the following months, giving continuity to the struggle against the reforms and against the government.

We will take to the streets the strength of our struggle and “Stop Brazil”. From north to south, from east to west. From the workers to the small merchants, from public employees to employees of the private sector. We will unite the fields, the city, the youth and all men and women of our class to show the strength we have. It is necessary and possible to struggle for the strike to go beyond the categories and lead to a general stoppage in production, circulation and marketing of goods. So that we actually have an active strike with broad popular participation.

During this building process and the preparation of the General Strike, we must be vigilant against all attempts of negotiation and treason, in other words, of turning in of our rights. In case this happens, we must denunciate and expose anyone who may attempt to betray our struggle, whether it be a parliamentary representative or sectors of the leadership of the union movement.

Neither can we accept someone who comes and attempts to deviate our actions and battles for the path of “electoral agreements with the bourgeoisie” or the simple defense of Lula 2018. These proposals do not represent us and divide the movement, becoming an obstacle for the necessary unity to defeat the reforms, which is even capable of overthrowing the government.

It is possible and necessary in this struggle and direct action to build a political and class alternative against the traditional right represented by the PMDB/PSDB and other variations, and against the class conciliation project represented by the PT/PCdoB and their allies. None of these two projects represents the interests of our Federation and the working class. This poses the challenge of building a political alternative with class independence and project of the working class. Against the pensions and labor reforms, outsourcing, for employment and no cut in rights, to overthrow Temer and all the corrupt in congress, and demand punishment and confiscation of assets of all the corrupt and corruptors.

Let us all go together, workers, youth, native peoples, retired, public employees, peasants, movements of struggle against oppressions, of struggle for housing, unemployed, liberal professionals, autonomous, all! It is time to take to the streets the strength of our struggle and stop Brazil.

It is time for a General Strike. We will stop the country, from north to south, from east to west. This is the path. This is the task. Us, from the CSP-CONLUTAS will be involved along with all the working people, in the building of the General Strike we will carry out next April 28.

April 28 we will stop Brazil!

Resolution adopted by the meeting of the National Coordination of the CSP-Conlutas, April 9, 2017.